There are tools out there to make the drives bootable. My motherboard specifically, will try to boot from it if it's simply plugged in during bootup.

I can't remember the name of the tools at the moment though :/

I believe there is a Tutorial floating around that allows you to setup Linux on a flashdrive though.

09-23-2005 05:22 PM

Kilamon

Is there a way to make any of these usb drives bootable? It'd be pretty sweet to have a miniature install of linux with some tools on it or use one of the Austrumi or other packages for system recovery on one of these little things.

@Jen: Did you steal the sig image from Angry at DFI?

09-20-2005 09:02 PM

Rob Williams

Visitors are more than welcome to post any comments or questions, even if it looks bad on the review. It could have been PM'd, and had the same effect, but users shouldn't be forced to register to simply PM.

At any rate, I really want to chime in here, but I know zip about USB Thumb drives, as I own a 2 year old 64MB one that I got from Dell. I will be taking a look at a competitors thumb drive in the coming weeks, and we will solidify a good way to benchmark these properly to keep our reviews very accurate.

09-20-2005 08:25 PM

petal666

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkSynergy

Then buy the Titanium. This is something that could have, and should have, been taken care of in a private message.

I fully understand the necessity of accurate information to you the reader, but there is a time and a place correct the reviewer and a public forum isnt that place.

Thank you for your attention to detail but please, use a PM next time. That way we can correct what might be wrong with out all of this.

I'm sorry but after reading the first post in this thread ...please feel free to comment here! why should I use PM? (also I wasn't registered) If all you are after is happy glowing comments then good luck to you. While I appreciate the effort that goes into doing reviews, the review is in the public domain so you should expect people to check its validity and this review does contain slight inaccuracies which I have pointed out, also in the public domain so people are aware. I'm sure people interested in buying a USB thumbdrive can look at the charts and make up their own mind about which one is best.

Details about why the results are not so accurate have been PM'ed but I'm sure readers might have been interested

I do own a Sandisk, but it is a cruzer mini which would be about the same speed as the gizmo. It's fast enough for me and all the above is just nitpicking and striving for an accurate review.

09-20-2005 06:45 PM

Greg King

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just curious. How did the review manage to copy more than 20MB in less than 10 seconds via USB 1.1? That is >2MB/s, I don't think so.

Also the gizmo didn't equal or better the other drives over USB 2. It lagged behind all others for small files and was soundly beaten by the titanium over all file sizes!!

Then buy the Titanium. This is something that could have, and should have, been taken care of in a private message.

I fully understand the necessity of accurate information to you the reader, but there is a time and a place correct the reviewer and a public forum isnt that place.

Thank you for your attention to detail but please, use a PM next time. That way we can correct what might be wrong with out all of this.

09-20-2005 05:02 PM

Jen McPherson

:|

5.05 MB
6.02 MB
3.15 MB
5.78 MB
6.02 MB

Those are the exact file sizes that I transfered from the USB drive to my pc with the 1.1 USB drive. Again, as stated before the transfer took 10 seconds, give or take a few. I even tested it again just for you.

Also, yes the titanium performed better than the Gizmo, as did the others on low end. Perhaps I did get ahead of myself in my review and stated it performed better than most. I'll rephrase that.

"Second I ran the benchmark on my second home PC with the 2.0 USB port. With this test the Gizmo performed slow to start, but picked up and came about even with most of the other USB devices around 256MB. Uploading and transferring the same documents to the Gizmo on this PC took absolutely no time at all, and was practically an instant transfer."

The Gizmo performed well in my eyes so I will stand behind my rating for it.

09-20-2005 12:56 AM

Unregistered

Just curious. How did the review manage to copy more than 20MB in less than 10 seconds via USB 1.1? That is >2MB/s, I don't think so.

Also the gizmo didn't equal or better the other drives over USB 2. It lagged behind all others for small files and was soundly beaten by the titanium over all file sizes!!

09-19-2005 07:26 PM

Greg King

USB sticks are gifts from God. I have SP2, a few anti virus and anti spyware programs and a few MP3's on mine and its a wonderful thing to go to a clients home and not have to dig for a CD or DVD hoping that you have what you need.

There is not a laptop made that could make me want to relive High School. For one, it couldnt keep me awake during class and unless a notebook could keep me productive, then it would be pointless. All I would do is install games on it and hack the school's servers. I know the guy that does my old high schools IT and he is a douche, plain and simple.

09-19-2005 07:11 PM

Jen McPherson

:)

If they did that I think I'd go back too But yes, the Gizmo would be great for anyone. I loved it, easy to just swap data from place to place with no hastle and no floppies

09-19-2005 06:39 PM

Word.

The review sounds awsome, i think that little beast would be a great gift idea for a school kid, to save there homework and other things(Music, pictures).
Hopefully Pencils and paper will be no longer needed in schools and When you go to the first day they will hand you a laptop :P Then i think id go back and say i failed :P
"/stops dreaming"

09-18-2005 10:17 PM

Rob Williams

Crucial Gizmo! 1GB USB Drive

Today we are reviewing Crucial's Gizmo! Hi-Speed USB 1GB Flash Drive. USB drives are the latest craze in tech gadgets, you see them all over today, and are a must have for any PC enthusiast. They all come in a variety of memory capacities, from 128MB to as large as 2GB, and are a great

After checking out the review here, please feel free to comment here! Registration is not required.